CURRENT MISSION

To make our big beautiful world smaller, our little worlds greater - through Theatre.

ABOUT ME

Writing, dreaming, travelling,singing, acting,caring,playing,learning, thinking.

'I always get to where I'm going by walking away from where I've been.' Winnie the Pooh

The Theatre of Attraction is my latest creative initiative.

I am also associated with the Elysian Trust, and hope to be working on a project to provide mobile access to educational resources for the world's nation of displaced persons.

I enjoy everything too much and am interested in just about anything ( perhaps not mortgages and insurance). In CS I seem to have gatecrashed a party of like spirits and minds.

I grew up in England and Australia, Uni in Sydney, drama school in Manchester, theatre in Liverpool. Gave up acting when had the 4th of 6 children. Survived my biggest challenges of all - suburbia, parenthood and teaching.

Now I'm trying to mix all the ingredients of my experiences together and see what happy potion I can concoct so I can become an independent truly global citizen. I spend part of the year in Sydney and part in France, but my family home is in the UK.

Because I am passionate about people developing their own passions and individuality I deliver art/music educational workshops on a variety of subjects - currently Claude Monet and Time Zones.

Main life project is to link all schools all over the world for one day a year on the Equinoxes or Solstices, this year again on September 21st and then 22nd December for earth Birth Day via a 'Mexican Wave' of morning singing assemblies. Then find a way to contact the 100 million kids who don't go to school."Help needed!"

Also want to continue my "Short way Across" series of motorbike rides.

With recent world events ( June 2016) I am starting a forum entitled "Poems, Performance and Politics."

PHILOSOPHY

1) "Glory be to god for dappled things... all trades, their gear and tackle and trim." G.M.Hopkins
2 "So hush-a-bye cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."
3)' I always get to where I'm going by walking away from where I've been'. Winnie-the- Pooh.)
4) "When they go low, we go high." Michelle Obama

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Having always had this sort of open-house philosophy myself, couch-surfing was the next logical step and I have hosted a variety of people at my home with my family. I have attended various events in Sydney (but am most proud of giving a guided tour through Paris for one American CS - I didn't know I knew so much!) I have surfed once only in Dubai and was amazed by the experience.
I like to help with random requests for advice or support that I feel I can give - writing plays,songs,poetry for schools and teachers of English in other lands, proofreading English for people worldwide in a variety of media and for a range of purposes.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I can only say that my whole life seems to have been one long couch surf.But this is the first time it has been official.
"Sleep where you drop" has always been a motto in our house; and every body welcome. Always someone to watch over you, tuck a blanket round you and make a cuppa for you in the morning.
Hosting: I have had THE most charming, interesting,talented,pleasant and intelligent visitors to my humble abode since joining CSs.Not only have they graced our family with their warmth and humour, helped in unexpected and thoroughly appreciated ways around the house but they have delighted us all with their friendly personalities and stimulating conversations.
Surfing: My first surf was in Dubai and my host was the dearest, most excellent, generous girl. Meetings in Sydney have been delightful and varied.What a fantastic joy it is to meet open-minded souls.

Interests

Mostly I love words and ideas that swirl and dance and play around me, teasing and tempting all day and every day. But in the physical world I love: motorbikes,dogs and other animals,writing all sorts, Shakespeare, poetry, guitar, song-writing,making up silly characters, books (non-fiction), phonetics, medieval history, Hector Berlioz and Harriet Smithson, Claude Monet, atomic physics, mathematics, the Zero Point Field, tarot, 17th century tall ships, Captain William Keeling, the Spice trade, India especially Kerala, medieval knights, football (Man Utd Rule OK), snorkeling, scuba diving, dancing, piano, steam trains and the social history of railways, rifle shooting, funny things, other people's jobs 'their gear and tackle and trim', the philosophy of scouting and guiding, history of canals and waterways, the spiritual nature of autism, Ryan Air. 19th century Manchester, Vikings and the Isle of Man, New Year in Sydney, March on Queensland's Barrier Reef, Spring and Christmas in England, Summer in France;
Not an expert at any of the above but these are my main dabbles. I like lots of little tastes of BIG things and don't like anything fiddly or repetitive. (So I made a career out of nappy-changing, I know. Still doing it for the 4 grandsons and 3 granddaughters - Slow Learner.)
Poems, Performance and Politics.

• animals
• dogs
• arts
• writing
• books
• poetry
• singing
• acting
• dancing
• cooking
• partying
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• piano
• hunting
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• soccer
• communications
• history
• mathematics
• physics
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

Books : Abraham - Hicks, all New Earth books, Jack Canfield, Ekhart Tolle, Lynne McTaggart etc etc.
Movies: Recently enjoyed : Christopher Robin, Mama Mia 2, The Children Act, Happy Go Lucky, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,The King's Speech,Made in Dagenham,The Social Network, Africa United. Favourite of all time Shakespeare in Love.
Music: Jimmy Barnes, Billy Thorpe and Johnny Farnham and other Australian rock. John Denver. Pleasantly rediscovering the genius of The Beatles, Berlioz, usual C19th stuff. Grieg, Elgar etc. Anything baroque.
Books: Eckhart Tolle, James Redfield, Esther and Jerry Hicks, Richard Bach, Lynne McTaggart, Stephen Clarke, Bill Bryson
But I am most interested in the ones I am working on. Books,songs,workshops, articles,plays, documentaries and film scripts all in progress on:
Monet,Children and Time Zones,The Man, the Machine and the Moment,100 years of Girl Guiding,How It All Works, Cartimandua, Berlioz and Smithson, Rail Tales, Autism, Time,Tall Ships and Shakespeare, the Countess of Devon and the Exeter weir,the lady who wrote Shakespeare's sonnets, a toddler series entitled "Grandma's Motorbike", 'a forum entitled "Poems, Performance and Politics "- and one on the virtue of focus.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

2006:I motorbiked across Australia and NZ, "Short Way Across". Out riding on Nullarbor at sun-up was the high, the low was being turned in to a 140kmh bowl of guacamole by riding through a swarm of locusts.
Updates:
2008: Lived in Paris for 3 months
2009: Singing with school children in Fiji on 22nd September while on the telephone to Florian, a teaching CS in New Caledonia and then linking up with schools and CSs like Marianna from Hungary all around the planet in 24 hours.
March 2010 update. Sucking milk through the bitten-off opposing corners of a Tim Tam.
June 2011 - heard my autistic treasure of a grandson count to 10 and say 'I love you Grandma' at last.
July 2012 - found a home in rural France
September 2013 - surprise 60th party with my 6 children and newborn 5th grandchild
October 2014 - Rode a camel in Morocco
April 2015 - At last I rode a Royal Enfield in India after dreaming about it for 50 years. Scrubbed and pampered an elephant in the river including directing his enormous poo downstream
April 2016 - Played Helene Hanff ( a 4ft 9in Jewish New Yorker!) in 84 Charing Cross Road.
November 2017 - worked as director/writer/performer/deviser/researcher on Domestic Abuse project
September 2018 - Formed Theatre of Attraction, published Claude Monet book/song 'From Paris to Giverny'
December 2019 - Spent much of this year promoting the benefits of my nation being part of the European Union
January 2020- After 2 months with my daughter in Sydney I return on January 31st to the UK which is a very different country to that which I have loved and enjoyed for most of my adult life. I am at the moment dealing with grief, disbelief, horror, humiliation, disgust, embarrassment and shame. I hope to use CS to harness the power I have as a true citizen of planet earth rather than one tiny island within it. Contact me if you need support too. "When they go low, we go high." Michelle Obama. "Kirra" - Australian indigenous for We Will Return.
March 2020. Lockdown begins in UK. . No idea when I will be able to see Australia or France again.
August 2020: Return to France.
November 2020: Granted French Residency. Thank you France.
May 2021: Have spent 9 lockdown months in France.
May 2022: Well we were some of the lucky ones and survived both Brexit and Covid. Life is able to begin again for us. I am a lot older but at least I have been granted the extraordinary privilege of ageing - and facing new challenges that war in Europe is bringing to us all.

Teach, Learn, Share

To be an Actor Attractor. I can very probably help you learn or do anything you want to, especially the English language but even things I do not know about as yet for I love learning and teaching equally, in fact I think they are the same thing.

"Let's do this." "Yes let's." ('Let's' is the best word ever.)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Ideas, thoughts, philosophies, adventures of the mind, mini-tours around my homes in Manchester, France and Sydney - both countryside and city areas, stories, songs, music making, families, cooking and eating, laughing, knowledge, imaginations, motorcycling, books, love of dogs and all other animals.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Fiji, France, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, France, United Kingdom

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